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Tea Party probe has cost IRS $7.9 million so far

The Internal Revenue Service says 255 employees have spent 97,542 hours responding to congressional investigations into the scrutiny it gave to conservative political groups before the 2012 election -- at a total cost of at least $7.9 million.

WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service says 255 employees have spent 97,542 hours responding to congressional investigations into the scrutiny it gave conservative political groups before the 2012 election — at a cost of at least $7.9 million.

Those numbers came in a letter from IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to two House Democrats. He said the accounting took a "conservative approach" that did not include some support staff, the press office, congressional liaisons and other top IRS officials.

The costs include $259,849 for travel. For staff time, the numbers work out to an average hourly rate of more than $79 an hour.

House Democrats seized on the cost of the investigations as evidence Republicans are "fixated" on the IRS affair. Rep. Sandy Levin, D-Mich., who joined with Republicans to make the original request for information, said Republicans were now "wasting millions of dollars in an attempt to reignite their partisan inquiry before the November elections."

Republicans say they're trying to bring the full story of IRS targeting to light. "This committee is working to restore accountability and trust into this broken agency," said Sarah Swinehart, a spokeswoman for House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich.

There are four congressional investigations into the matter, including two in the Republican-controlled House and two in the Democratic Senate. The Department of Justice and a Treasury inspector general are also investigating.

The costs don't include $6 million to $8 million in technology upgrades that the agency says were necessary to protect private taxpayer information. Two congressional committees with direct jurisdiction over tax matters are entitled to receive that information, but two other committees investigating the matter are not.

More than 400,000 documents have been turned over to Congress, only a fraction of which have been publicly released under the Freedom of Information Act. Republicans say they're still missing key documents including the e-mails of former IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner.

"The IRS is wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on obstructing an investigation while it refuses to produce low-cost and highly relevant documents such as the official e-mails from IRS targeting figure Lois Lerner, which the committee has identified as a priority," said Frederick Hill, a spokesman for House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif. He said the total cost of $14 million to $16 million was twice the budget of Issa's entire committee.

On Tuesday, the Oversight Committee said it was recalling Lerner to testify next week. Lerner, who has since retired, invoked her right against self-incrimination when she appeared before the committee last May, but the committee ruled that she waived that right when she gave a prepared statement and answered a question.